FOUR  YEARS  IN 

SOUTHERN  ASIA 


BISHOP  WILLIAM  F.  OLDHAM 


Four  Years  in  Southern 

Asia 


By  BISHOP  WILLIAM  F.  OLDHAM 


The  Quadrennial  Report  of  the 
Missionary  Bishops  for  Southern  Asia 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1908 


BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
150  FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK 


PRINTED  OCTOBER,  1908 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


The  four  years  under  review  in  this  report  of  the  Southern 
Asia  field  are  among  the  most  momentous  ever  seen  in  Asia,  and 
perhaps  in  the  unfolding  history  of  the  world.  In  1904  war 
began  between  Russia  and  Japan.  The  confident  expectation  of 
practically  all  the  world  was  that  after  a period  of  gallant  cam- 
paign Japan  would  inevitably  be  defeated.  The  extraordinary 
military  and  naval  sagacity  and  aptitude  of  the  Japanese,  with 
the  moral  and  financial  help  of  England  and  America,  brought 
about  a totally  different  result.  In  August,  1906,  largely  through 
the  kind  offices  of  the  president  of  the  United  States,  supported 
by  King  Edward  of  England,  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  was 
signed — a treaty  which  clearly  recognized  the  military  pre- 
eminence of  Japan  over  what  had  been  considered  one  of  the 
foremost  European  powers.  The  effect  of  this  victory  of  an 
Asiatic  power  over  the  great  power  of  Northern  Europe  is  regis- 
tered in  the  thinking  of  every  Asiatic — the  purlieus  of  Canton, 
the  wilds  of  Manchuria,  the  barios  of  Luzon,  and  the  bazaars  of 
India  alike  have  been  moved  to  the  depths.  The  wonder-working, 
invincible  white  race  has  been  met  and  ignominiously  defeated 
by  a small,  well-disciplined,  efficient  section  of  the  brown  race. 
A new  leaven  has  been  introduced  into  the  thinking  of  Asia. 
National  and  racial  self-consciousness  has  everywhere  been 
quickened,  and  a new  thinking  has  begotten  a new  attitude. 
The  times  call  for  profoundest  consideration  from  all  who  have 
any  dealings — economic,  commercial,  political,  or  religious — ^with 
the  peoples  of  Asia.  And  such  is  the  solidarity  of  the  human 
family  that  awakened  Asia  must  necessarily  give  something  of 
anxiety  to  all  thinking  men. 

Southern  Asia  is  not  directly  concerned  with  the  areas  of  the 
late  war.  But  the  results  of  that  war  may  be  read  on  every  page 
of  our  newly  written  history.  The  immediate  effect  in  India  has 

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4 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


been  the  quickening  of  the  national  spirit  and  a passionate  ex- 
pression of  the  belief  that  India’s  sons  also  are  able  to  direct 
their  own  affairs,  or,  at  least,  to  have  intrusted  to  them  a very 
much  larger  degree  of  self-government.  In  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago, with  peoples  less  advanced  and  less  intelligent,  the  in- 
creased power  of  Japan  is  dimly  felt  to  be  a threat,  rather  than 
an  incitement,  and  the  reported  experiences  of  Formosa  and 
Korea  lend  stability  to  European  rule.  Though  even  here 
among  the  large  body  of  scattered  Chinese,  a new  spirit  of  self- 
assertion  is  evident.  In  the  Philippines,  too,  though  at  first 
Japanese  success  produced  some  wild  talk,  the  American  con- 
cession of  a larger  degree  of  self-government  than  has  yet  been 
vouchsafed  to  a dominated  people  in  the  history  of  nations, 
together  with  the  object  lesson  of  how  Asiatics  may  fare  at  the 
hands  of  other  Asiatics,  has  made  for  a degree  of  content  with 
the  American  program  that  could  scarcely  have  been  looked  for 
at  the  beginning  of  the  quadrennium. 

How  has  all  this  intensity  of  movement,  with  its  deep  stir  of 
spirit  in  whatever  direction  the  people  may  have  moved,  affected 
the  progress  of  Christianity  and  of  our  Methodist  missions  in 
particular  ? It  would  scarcely  be  within  the  legitimate  limits  of 
this  report  to  enter  exhaustively  into  this  most  interesting  ques- 
tion. But,  in  brief,  it  may  be  said  the  results  seem  on  the 
surface  to  be  for  good  and  for  evil,  but,  more  deeply  considered, 
the  seeming  evil  is  but  the  unfamiliar  aspect  of  larger  good. 
Somehow  such  is  the  essential  goodness  of  the  great  currents 
that  flow  in  human  history  and  such  the  resources  of  the  great 
Spirit  of  God  who  constrains  their  direction,  that  every  great 
upheaval  of  human  kind  will  be  found  to  be  but  the  birth 
throes  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men.  The  easily  ap- 
parent good  of  all  this  Asiatic  movement  is  the  new  valuation 
put  upon  men  as  men — the  new  sense  of  human  worth.  East 
may  still  be  East  and  West  West,  but  the  West  has  a new 
respect  for  the  East  and  the  East  a deeper  and  more  reasonable 
self-respect.  The  ancient  superstitions  and  follies  of  the  cen- 
turies, which  had  no  reason  for  existence  but  immemorial 
custom,  have  received  a rude  shock.  For  it  is  clearly  seen  that 
the  Asiatic  achieved  success  by  welcoming  and  skillfully  adapting 
the  new  intelligence  and  science  of  the  West.  The  stir  in  educa- 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


5 


tional  circles  all  over  Asia,  even  extending  to  questions  of  the 
education  of  women,  bears  witness  to  this  awakening.  Above  all, 
the  people  are  finding  themselves.  There  has  been  a longer 
stride  toward  democracy  during  the  quadrennium  than  in  any 
half  century,  or,  possibly,  any  century,  of  the  past.  And  if 
these  and  other  marks  of  good  seem  to  be  accompanied  by  a 
growing  headiness — a new  attitude  of  impatience,  if  not 
arrogance,  toward  all  foreign  suggestion,  and  a new  inversion 
in  the  realms  both  of  thought  and  endeavor,  arising  from  the 
supposed  sufficiency  of  Asia  unto  herself — this  is  and  can  only 
be  temporary.  The  touch  of  arrogance  that  youth  assumes  in 
the  presence  of  directing  maturity  is  often  the  surest  sign  of 
felt  immaturity.  The  East  begins  to  know  better  than  ever 
that  the  West  holds  the  treasures  of  knowledge  and  experience 
in  affairs  that  must  be  had  for  largest  life.  Many  of  the  best 
minds  already  see  that  the  chief  of  these  treasures  is  religion; 
that  knowledge  of  God  and  relation  to  him  that  enlarge  the 
horizon,  constrain  conduct,  compact  society,  and  yet  free  men 
for  the  largest  individual  progress.  Here  and  there  the  cry  has 
been  raised,  particularly  in  India  and  by  a kind  of  neo- 
patriotic  movement  of  Chinese  outside  the  empire  (the  four  or 
six  millions  who  live  in  the  lands  of  Southern  Asia),  that  their 
own  religions  are  sufficient  to  the  salvation  of  their  people.  But 
underneath  is  the  deeper  persuasion  that  the  ethnic  faiths  hold 
an  attitude  toward  current  life  that  prove  them  anachronisms, 
and  that  the  only  hope  of  raising  the  East  to  the  coveted  level 
of  the  West  is  not  only  by  using  our  science  in  all  its  varied 
applications  to  create  economic  values  and  military  fitness,  but 
by  receiving  those  great  fundamental  ideas  of  religion  that  have 
hitherto  been  considered  merely  the  ideals  of  missionary  enthu- 
siasts but  are  now  clearly  seen  to  underlie  and  to  conserve  every 
great  progress  in  actual  life. 

INDIA 

This  great  field  needs  restatement  before  the  Church.  Two 
wrong  and  mischievous  ideas  prevail — first,  that  the  land  is  on 
the  whole  already  evangelized ; second,  that,  being  mainly  under 
the  British  flag,  it  may  safely  be  left  to  England  for  its  gospel. 
Both  these  views  are  superficial  and  will  not  bear  the  pressure 


6 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


of  facts.  Among  the  great  movements  of  the  qnadrennium  is 
the  launching  of  a “National  Home  Missionary  Society”  by  the 
united  native  churches  of  India.  The  chief  reason  given  for  the 
launching  of  this  society  in  the  preamble  issued  by  its  central 
committee  is  the  fact  that  over  one  hundred  millions  of  people 
in  India  are  not  yet  touched  by  any  of  the  gospel  agencies  at 
work.  And  among  the  other  two  hundred  millions  it  should  be 
remembered  that  all  the  combined  missions  of  Europe  and 
America  have  as  yet  really  touched  but  a very  small  fraction. 
The  completed  program  is  yet  a long  way  off.  Nor  is  England 
able  to  meet  the  entire  demand.  Did  she  withhold  her  hand  in 
China,  and  Africa,  and  South  America,  and  elsewhere,  she 

might  more  nearly  meet  India’s  needs.  But  even  then  the 

Englishman  is  under  a disability  from  which  the  American  is 
free.  He  is  of  the  dominant  race.  He  cannot  altogether  escape 
being  classed  with  the  rulers,  toward  whom  there  is  increasing 
restlessness. 

When  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  the  eloquent  Christian  apologist, 
appeared  before  the  intellectual  leaders  of  India  he  was  careful 
to  prevent  any  break  in  the  force  of  his  apology  by  the  conscious 
presence  of  any  race  feeling.  He  was  careful,  therefore,  to 
announce  himself  as  a university  man  from  America,  a man  of 
catholic  temper  and  of  nationality  unrelated  to  any  of  the 

irritating  questions  that  might  disturb  the  minds  of  his 

hearers. 

The  advantages  of  British  rule  are  great  and  the  good  it  has 
conferred  illimitable.  Nevertheless,  the  shadows  which  ac- 
company the  lights  do  not  lie  across  the  American.  Perfect  pro- 
tection of  life  and  property  and  perfect  freedom  in  work,  with 
kindly  recognition  of  all  sociological  and  economic  efforts — and 
this  without  any  trace  of  the  popular  bias  that  prevails  against 
the  ruling  class — are  the  inviting  conditions  under  which 
American  missions  are  asked  to  work  in  this  wide,  needy  empire. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  material  to  be  wrought  upon 
is  among  the  most  valuable  in  all  the  non-Christian  world.  The 
Indian  has  a genius  for  spiritual  religion.  To  others  religion 
may  be  a department  of  life;  to  him  it  fills  the  earth  and  sky. 
A living  intensity  of  religious  desire  possesses  him.  In  all  Asia 
is  no  such  religious  temper,  in  all  the  world  no  such  religions 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


7 


aptitude.  Japan  may  be  the  scientific  brain  of  Asia  and  China 
its  strong  laboring  hands  and  burden-bowed  back,  but  the  burn- 
ing heart  of  Asia  is  India.  Once  already  has  India  religiously 
conquered  Asia.  Not  only  did  she  give  Lao-tse  the  philosophy 
of  Taoism,  but  when  the  young  enthusiasm  of  Buddha  over- 
leaped the  mountains  of  the  north  she  gave  religion  to  China  and 
Japan,  and  one  half  the  world  is  to-day  thinking  the  religious 
thoughts  of  India.  Cannot  Christ  do  with  India  what  Buddha 
did  ? India  on  fire  means  Asia  in  conflagration.  To  this  great- 
souled  land  let  America  hasten  with  the  riches  of  Christ,  and 
how  abundant  the  fruitage  let  facts  and  figures,  and  not  fancies 
and  hopes,  bear  witness. 

REVIVAL  AND  JUBILEE 

The  quadrennium  in  India  has  been  marked  by  two  notable 
things — the  revival  and  the  jubilee.  The  close  of  fifty  years  of 
notable  history  was  made  the  occasion  of  a very  happy  gathering 
of  a large  body  of  American  visitors,  among  whom  we  joyfully 
welcomed  the  official  visitors.  Bishops  FitzGerald  and  Foss,  with 
Drs.  Goucher,  Leonard,  and  Mrs.  Bishop  Foss,  the  president  of 
the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and,  above  all,  Mrs. 
William  Butler — name  most  precious,  presence  most  winsome. 
For  all  the  interest  shown  and  for  the  special  jubilee  gifts 
received  from  thousands  of  good  friends  we  are  deeply  thankful. 

More  important  in  its  bearing  on  the  outcome  of  the  four 
years  is  the  great  revival  interest  that  has  prevailed,  particularly 
in  our  oldest  fields  in  North  India.  The  last  General  Conference 
appointed  a Commission  on  Evangelism  and  gave  new  emphasis 
to  the  old  Methodist  position.  We  of  South  Asia  carried  this 
emphasis  to  our  fields,  and  God  has  blessed  us.  Revival  fires 
have  burned  upon  our  altars  and  the  revival  spirit  has  stimulated 
our  pastors  and  entered  our  schools  and  colleges.  Not  only  have 
we  seen  hundreds  of  pupils  converted  but  a great  number  have 
been  consciously  called  into  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  any 
reproach  of  barrenness  that  may  ever  have  lain  against  our  high 
schools  and  colleges  has  disappeared  in  the  almost  universal 
religious  stir  and  enthusiasm  in  our  places  of  learning.  By 
actual  count  four  hundred  male  student  volunteers  are  found  in 
cur  schools.  Of  these  over  a score  are  in  the  Reid  Christian 


8 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


College,  while  in  our  girls’  schools  are  large  numbers  of  young 
women  who  expect  under  the  limitations  of  Oriental  life  to  be 
distinctly  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  Church.  Meanwhile  the 
churches  have  been  uplifted,  the  people  deepened  in  religious 
life  and  experience,  and  such  gains  have  been  made  from  the 
surrounding  non-Christians  as  give  us  greater  fixity  of  hope 
that  community  and  nation-wide  movements  are  not  improbable 
in  a nearer  future  than  any  just  thinking  has  hitherto  dared  to 
entertain. 

At  the  jubilee  one  of  the  notable  sessions  was  that  in  which 
five  hundred  and  twenty-three  persons  were  baptized  from  raw 
heathenism  on  profession  of  their  faith.  It  was  a question  in 
the  minds  of  some  as  to  whether  this  sample  of  wholesale  bap- 
tizing would  not  demonstrate,  if  followed  up,  the  instability  of 
the  mass  movements  which  have  prevailed  among  us.  Particular 
pains  have,  therefore,  been  taken  to  follow  up  the  results,  and  to 
our  grateful  surprise  the  latest  report  from  the  district  in  which 
these  Christians  live  shows,  as  a result  of  their  personal  testi- 
mony and  earnest  effort  among  relatives  and  friends,  that  one 
thousand  persons  have  been  baptized  since  the  jubilee.  No,  the 
revival  in  India  is  not  a straw  fire  which  will  presently  die  down. 
It  is  a living  movement.  It  is  but  a quickening  of  what  in  a 
measure  has  been  there  for  the  last  twenty  years,  the  proof  of 
which  is  in  the  greatly  increased  spiritual  power  of  the  native 
ministry  and  the  added  weight  of  the  testimony  of  plain  people 
scattered  throughout  the  empire. 

MEMBERSHIP 

On  Bishop  Thoburn’s  first  furlough,  after  five  j'^ears  of  service, 
he  was  able  to  tell  the  Church  at  home  that  he  had  the  joy  to 
report  a Christian  community  of  three  hundred  in  the  India 
Mission.  At  the  end  of  thirty  years  that  little  company  had 
spread  into  wider  areas  and  increased  to  the  number  of  eighty- 
six  hundred.  In  the  quadrennium  preceding  our  jubilee  cele- 
bration, areas  had  still  widened  and  the  numbers  increased  to 
one  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand.  It  is  now  our  high 
pleasure — a pleasure  accompanied  by  a deep  sense  of  the  obli- 
gations involved — to  report  that  the  community  of  Southern 
Asia  during  the  past  four  years,  adding  the  latest  returns  of  the 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


9 


Philippine  Conference,  which  was  omitted  in  the  Central  Con- 
ference Minutes,  has  risen  to  a total  of  two  hundred  and 
seventeen  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety,  a gain  during  the 
quadrennium  of  71,490,  or  something  over  forty-nine  per  cent. 
When  we  consider  the  figures  involved  we  believe  this  to  be  the 
noblest  gain  ever  made  by  the  Church  over  so  wide  an  area  among 
so  many  diverse  peoples  in  pagan  lands.  Methodism  in  India  is 
no  longer  an  exotic.  It  is  not  chiefly  the  foreign  missionary  who 
is  either  its  apologist  or  exponent.  The  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  soil  have  been  gathered  in  great  numbers,  and,  though  it 
may  be  many  years  before  the  inspiring  presence  of  the  American 
with  his  godly  traditions  and  vigorous  grasp  of  Christian  truth 
may  be  spared  from  India,  and  though  it  may  be  many  years 
before  India  will  come  with  any  request  for  autonomy  or  even 
harbor  the  thought  that  the  presence  of  her  American  teachers 
is  anything  but  a source  of  inspiration  to  be  recognized  with 
gratitude  and  responsive  affection,  nevertheless,  it  is  the  Indian 
teacher,  the  Bible  reader  and  the  humble  pathfinder  and 
“holder-up”  who  are  really  the  agents  in  that  marvelous  work 
of  grace  which  is  thrusting  Methodism  forward  at  so  remarkable 
a rate  in  Southern  Asia. 

EDUCATION 

It  is  well  within  the  memory  of  the  older  missionaries  that 
frequent  controversies  arose  in  former  days  regarding  the  com- 
parative value  of  evangelistic  and  educational  agencies.  This 
has  disappeared,  for  we  now  find  that  the  school  is  the  seed  plot 
of  the  Church,  and  nowhere  has  the  revival  brought  forth  more 
blessed  results  than  in  the  schools  of  India.  It  has  been  our 
great  joy  to  read  of  the  splendid  results  in  the  schools  at  home, 
and  we,  too,  have  been  blessed  beyond  measure  in  seeing  our 
missionary  schools  in  India  almost  without  exception  visited 
with  marked  revival  power.  Powerful  have  been  the  outpourings 
of  God’s  Spirit  in  the  District  Conferences,  and  it  may  be  said 
that  equally  striking  demonstrations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the 
hearts  of  men  have  been  among  the  boys  and  girls,  young  men 
and  young  women,  of  our  India  schools.  And  we  joyfully  an- 
nounce to  all  our  patrons  who  support  orphans  and  provide 
scholarships  in  these  schools  that  there  are  but  few  who  pass 
through  them  who  do  not  become  the  subjects  of  saving  grace 


10 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


during  their  stay.  In  the  Reid  Christian  College  and  the  various 
high  schools  from  Bangalore,  in  the  south,  to  Calcutta  and  the 
Punjab,  wherever  a Methodist  school  is  found,  there  may  be 
found  bands  of  happy  Christians,  singing  the  praises  of  their 
Lord  and  bearing  earnest  testimony  to  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in 
their  hearts. 

The  schools  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  which 
are  the  strength  of  our  work  among  the  women  of  India,  have 
shared  equally  in  this  outpouring  from  above.  And  perhaps  it 
may  be  said  without  invidious  distinction  that  no  more  powerful 
agency  for  the  evangelization  of  India  can  be  found  in  any 
single  institution  than  in  the  school  named  for  that  noble 
woman  who  gave  her  life  for  India’s  redemption,  “The  Isabella 
Thoburn  Woman’s  College  of  Lucknow.”  For  all  these  schools, 
male  and  female,  increased  attention  must  be  paid  to  the  fur- 
nishing with  appropriate  buildings  and  stronger  teaching  staffs, 
for  with  the  rise  of  intelligence  the  increased  demands  must  be 
met.  The  large  results  secured  from  our  school  investments 
put  the  matter  beyond  any  question  that  a more  effective  agency 
cannot  be  found  for  the  extending  of  the  kingdom  than  that  of 
putting  Christian  teachers  in  contact  with  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  land. 

SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

In  addition  to  our  boarding  and  day  school  agencies  is  the 
Sunday  school.  The  registered  Sunday  school  attendance  of 
Southern  Asia  is  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand.  Of  this 
number  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  or  over 
forty  per  cent,  are  in  Methodist  Sunday  schools.  We  were  the 
first  to  emphasize  the  Sunday  school  in  India,  and  are  to-day 
still  easily  in  the  lead.  The  Epworth  Leagues  also  are  grad- 
ually assuming  a finer  consistency  and  greater  vigor.  In  over 
thirty  languages  five  hundred  chapters  enroll  over  twenty  thou- 
sand Leaguers,  and  the  promise  for  the  immediate  future  in 
this  department  is  larger  than  ever. 

THE  PRESS 

Great  attention  has  been  paid  during  the  quadrennium  to  the 
development  of  the  press  as  a means  of  reaching  the  awakening 
intelligence  of  the  country.  There  are  four  publishing  houses 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


11 


in  India  and  two  in  the  territory  outside  of  India.  They  have 
been  at  work  endeavoring  to  provide  Christian  literature  for  the 
people  of  various  tongues.  The  variety  of  languages  and  dialects 
and  the  comparative  slowness  of  communication  make  it  neces- 
sary to  provide,  so  far  as  possible,  for  the  wants  of  the  people 
from  these  various  points.  When  it  is  remembered  that  we  are 
working  in  no  less  than  forty-four  languages  it  will  be  under- 
stood why  so  many  publishing  houses  are  necessary.  All  these 
houses  have,  in  the  main,  been  successful,  and  particularly  does 
the  Lucknow  Publishing  House,  situated  in  the  midst  of  our 
largest  Christian  population,  fill  a place  of  rare  usefulness  in 
furnishing  to  the  Christian  community  in  their  own  tongues  a 
much-needed  religious  literature,  while  also  publishing  millions 
of  pages  of  matter  stimulating  the  non-Christians,  who,  in  in- 
creasing tens  of  thousands,  eagerly  seek  to  know.  The  other 
publishing  houses  are  also  successful,  but  they  need  strengthen- 
ing, and,  while  full  of  promise  and  demonstrating  the  necessity 
for  their  existence,  they  must  be  helped  financially. 

It  needs  to  be  brought  prominently  to  the  attention  of  invest- 
ing laymen  that  no  more  worthy  service  can  be  rendered  any  of 
the  awakening  lands  of  the  East  than  to  strengthen  the  Christian 
press  in  these  lands.  For  increasingly  the  people  read,  and  the 
silent  page,  provoking  no  controversy,  bearing  its  message  deep 
into  the  intelligence  of  the  reader,  oftentimes  provides  the 
readiest  carriage  for  fertilizing  ideas.  We  ought  to  flood  all 
Asia  with  Christian  literature,  and  to  this  end  all  our  presses 
should  be  greatly  strengthened  and  their  output  increased  a 
hundredfold. 

Before  leaving  India  we  would  call  attention  to  British 
Burma,  in  farther  India,  where  a most  hopeful  young  mission 
is  found  among  a Buddhist  people  of  singular  liveliness  and 
temperament  and  hospitality  in  welcoming  new  ways.  Though 
the  mission  is  small,  it  is  doing  good  work,  and  its  direct  evan- 
gelism has  been  successful  beyond  ordinary.  This  mission 
should  be  materially  strengthened,  for  it  holds  promise  of  large 
success. 

MALAYSIA 

The  next  division  of  Southern  Asia  is  Malaysia,  that  peninsula 
which  points  south  from  Asia,  with  the  group  of  islands  extend- 


12 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


ing  from  its  tip  to  the  borders  of  Australia.  Malaysia  is  a 
saucer  into  which  the  overflow  of  China  and  India  is  sending  a 
continuous  double  stream  of  emigration.  This  double  stream 
meeting  the  Malays,  themselves  divided  into  various  tribes,  is 
making  a most  curious  and  most  interesting  amalgam  of  human 
population,  which  under  various  flags  (chiefly  the  English  and 
the  Dutch)  is  being  compacted  into  civilized  peoples,  with  stable 
government  and  enlarging  opportunity  for  worthy  commercial 
and  civic  life.  In  all  this  subdivision  the  Methodist  Church  is 
the  only  American  organization  at  work.  And  the  American 
ministry  of  the  gospel  to  seventy  millions  of  the  human  family 
is  conflned  to  the  missionaries  of  the  Malaysia  Conference. 
There  are  several  difficulties  in  this  field  which  are  being  met 
and  splendidly  overcome  by  as  gallant  and  devoted  a band  of 
men  and  women  as  serve  the  Church  in  any  of  her  foreign  fields. 
The  marked  feature  here  is  a chain  of  great  schools  extending 
from  Penang,  on  the  north,  to  Buitenzorg,  in  Java,  on  the  south. 
In  these  schools  over  four  thousand  boys  and  girls  are  under 
teachers  who,  while  enlarging  their  earthly  horizon  and  giving 
them  stirring  new  thoughts  regarding  the  life  that  is,  are  also 
unceasingly  bringing  to  bear  upon  the  problems  of  that  life  the 
knowledge  of  that  larger  life  “which  is  and  shall  be  forevermore.” 

The  boys’  schools  of  this  Conference  are  almost  wholly  self- 
supporting,  and  the  great  contributions  that  these  large  and  well- 
appointed  schools  are  making  to  the  evangelization  of  these  lands 
is  one  which  ought  to  command  the  appreciation  of  the  Church. 
Besides  teaching  in  the  classrooms,  the  teachers  at  these  schools 
are  continually  to  be  found  serving  the  Church  in  various  offices, 
all  the  way  from  the  presiding  eldership  to  the  teach- 
ing of  Sunday  school  classes  without  any  draft  on  the  missionary 
appropriations.  Noble  buildings  massed  in  several  groups  have 
been  provided  by  local  aid  and  at  very  little  cost  to  the  Church. 
Properties  now  valued  at  half  a million  dollars,  current  coin, 
are  being  used  for  the  Christian  education  of  the  youth  of 
Malaysia.  The  publishing  house  here  is  erecting  a very  hand- 
some three-story  building  on  one  of  the  most  prominent  sites  in 
the  city.  Singapore  is  so  strategic  a point  in  the  world’s  com- 
merce that  the  printed  matter  distributed  here  reaches  more 
millions  of  diverse  peoples,  perhaps,  than  from  any  other  port  in 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


13 


all  the  world.  This  gives  the  publishing  house  located  here 
peculiar  significance  and  value. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  review  the  quadrennium  without 
calling  attention  to  the  planting  of  a mission  in  Java  by  the 
Epworth  Leagues  of  the  Pittsburg  Conference.  This  movement 
is  without  parallel  in  our  history.  These  bands  of  young  people 
offered  to  provide  a sufficient  sum  of  money  to  open  a new 
mission  in  the  densely  populated  Island  of  Java,  where  over 
thirty  million  people  are  found  in  a territory  not  much  larger 
than  the  state  of  Ohio.  The  mission  is  three  years  old,  and 
already  more  converts  have  been  reported  and  more  splendid 
beginnings  made  than  have  ever  been  known  in  the  history  of  our 
missions  in  pagan  lands  in  a similar  period  of  time.  And  the 
whole  enterprise  has  been  so  owned  of  God  as  to  put  it  beyond 
a peradventure  that  the  genesis  of  the  movement  was  from  above. 
Southern  Asia  thanks  Pittsburg  with  depths  of  gratitude. 

THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 

The  youngest  of  our  Conferences  in  Southern  Asia  is  the 
Philippine  Islands  Conference.  The  growth  here  has  been 
phenomenal,  and  the  change  of  sentiment  among  the  people  is 
such  as  demands  notice  at  our  hands.  Four  years  ago  the 
Philippine  Islands  could  scarcely  have  been  described  as  entirely 
satisfied  with  existing  conditions.  The  American  occupancy 
was  but  six  years  old.  The  first  two  of  these  years  had  been 
marked  by  disturbances,  which  were  immediately  repressed  by 
the  strong  hand  of  the  military  forces  by  which  the  islands  were 
administered.  Then  came  the  early  era  of  civil  government, 
when  the  American  people,  through  their  representatives,  the 
governor-general  and  the  Philippine  Commission,  endeavored 
to  create  for  the  people  the  institutions  which  should  conserve 
their  liberties,  promote  popular  intelligence  and  rapidly  fit  the 
people  for  the  high  task  of  self-government.  A public  school 
system  was  created,  which  in  many  regards  is  the  noblest  Asia 
has  ever  seen.  About  one  thousand  school  teachers  have  been 
scattered  through  the  islands,  teaching  not  only  the  English 
tongue  and  all  the  rich  deposits  of  inspiring  truth  that  are 
found  in  its  literature,  but  incidentally  conveying  in  their  own 
character  and  conduct  new  ideas  of  manly  worth  and  womanly 


14 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


grace  and  usefulness.  Courts  of  law  and  all  the  paraphernalia 
of  institutions  for  the  perfect  protection  of  life  and  property 
and  the  preservation  of  personal  independence  have  been  erected. 
In  a word,  the  largest  opportunity  has  been  given  to  the  eight 
millions  of  this  archipelago  to  progress  in  all  directions  of  human 
welfare.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  governmental  policy 
to  be  pursued  in  the  future,  there  can  be  but  little  question  that 
the  American  people  have  been  most  happy  in  their  treatment 
of  the  Philippines  up  to  this  time.  And  when  at  the  close  of 
the  tenth  year  of  American  occupancy  it  can  be  said  that  over 
ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  governmental  offices  are  in  Filipino 
hands,  that  a considerable  portion  of  the  higher  offices  are  al- 
ready administered  by  the  natives,  and  that  for  more  than  a 
year  there  has  been  in  existence  a Filipino  Assembly,  in  which 
alone  legislation  can  be  originated  in  all  matters  affecting  the 
life  of  the  islands,  it  may  be  seen  that  the  American  adminis- 
tration of  these  islands  is  something  new  in  the  history  of 
colonial  rule.  Never  has  one  people  treated  another  with  such 
conspicuous  kindness,  and,  it  may  be  added,  conducted  their 
mutual  affairs  with  such  marked  ability.  All  this  has  given 
rise  to  a new  era  of  good  feeling.  Nowhere  in  all  Asia  are  two 
races  living  together  in  such  mutual  respect  and  goodwill  as 
to-day  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Meanwhile  the  Methodist  Church  has  steadily  pressed  its 
missionary  work  with  increasing  efficiency.  At  no  time  during 
the  four  years  has  there  been  a body  of  more  than  seven  male 
missionaries  on  the  field  free  for  evangelistic  work.  The 
terrible  pressure  upon  these  men,  the  unfamiliar  climate,  the 
poor  housing,  the  scanty  food  to  be  found  in  the  provinces,  and 
the  prevalence  of  tropical  disease  have  made  the  results  in  the 
breaking  of  health  and  enforced  departures  from  the  field  a 
constant  source  of  the  utmost  anxiety  and  embarrassment.  The 
Board  and  the  Missionary  secretaries  have  helped  us  nobly, 
but  in  spite  of  it  all  the  field  has  been  undermanned  and  the 
men  overworked  to  an  extent  that  has  caused  such  an  aggregate 
of  physical  breakdowns  as  the  Church  ought  not  to  require  of 
any  band  of  men  and  women.  And  yet  such  has  been  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  and  such  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to  hear,  and 
such  the  zeal  of  the  Filipino  workers,  aided  by  this  little  band 


REPORT  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  BISHOPS 


15 


of  Americans,  that  the  quadrennium  closes  with  the  astonishing 
figures  of  twenty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  probationers  and 
members,  an  increase  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent 
during  the  four  years.  The  work  is  much  more  compacted,  the 
membership  better  trained,  the  churches  better  organized,  and 
the  religious  life  of  the  people  greatly  deepened.  Churches  and 
chapels  have  sprung  up  all  over  the  land.  On  the  Sunday  of 
the  last  Conference  session  the  great  church  on  Calle  Cervantes, 
seating  fourteen  hundred  people,  was  opened  by  Bishop  J.  E. 
Robinson.  This  church,  projected  by  Dr.  Stuntz,  our  former 
superintendent,  is  perhaps  the  noblest  Protestant  building  in 
Manila.  At  its  opening  the  building  was  crowded  and  there 
were  at  least  eight  hundred  young  men  in  the  audience.  On 
the  same  day  Saint  Paul’s  Church,  in  Tondo,  seating  six  hun- 
dred people,  was  dedicated,  and  the  Gifford  Memorial  Church 
was  opened  in  another  part  of  the  city  and  was  filled  with  eager 
hearers,  among  whom  Protestant  worship  was  being  held  for 
the  first  time.  And  as  in  Manila  so  in  all  other  portions  of  the 
territory — the  people  are  eager  to  hear  and  opportunity  is  wide. 
0 that  the  Church  might  embrace  the  day  of  its  opportunity 
and  send  forth  laborers  and  added  means  into  this  dead-ripe 
harvest  field.  In  the  northernmost  portion  of  the  Island  of 
Luzon,  in  the  Cagayan  Valley,  Oscar  Huddleston,  of  Kansas, 
returns  at  the  end  of  a single  year  to  declare  that,  having 
organized  fourteen  congregations  with  a membership  of  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-two  people,  if  he  be  given  another  mis- 
sionary and  his  wife,  with  a mission  house,  a steam  launch,  and 
a few  native  preachers,  he  can  promise  a Methodist  Church  of 
twenty  thousand  members  within  the  next  ten  years.  And  the 
promise  is  not  extravagant.  A Bible  Training  School  for  native 
preachers  is  being  built  by  a good  man  in  Kansas  to  the  memory 
of  his  wife,  while  the  Harris  Memorial  Deaconess  Training 
School  in  Manila  and  a smaller  similar  institution  in  the  north 
are  providing  the  women  leadership  for  the  coming  hosts  of 
Methodism.  A spirit  of  close  fraternity  prevails  among  the 
various  denominations  in  these  islands,  and  a movement  is  now 
on  foot  to  create  in  Manila  a Christian  college,  in  the  creation 
of  which  all  the  Protestant  missions  which  operate  in  Luzon 
shall  make  a united  effort. 


16 


FOUR  YEARS  IN  SOUTHERN  ASIA 


PROPERTY 

In  the  planting  of  the  Christian  Church  among  great  popula- 
tions in  ancient  lands  the  closest  attention  should  be  paid  to  the 
mission  buildings,  churches,  hospitals,  etc.,  which  concrete  and 
give  outward  expression  to  those  ideas  which  Christianity  con- 
veys through  the  ministrations  of  her  missionary  agencies.  A 
building  in  Asia  is  not  merely  a convenience  for  the  carrying  on 
of  a piece  of  work — it  is  a significant,  though  silent,  witness  to 
the  fact  that  Christianity  has  come  and  that  some  of  its  institu- 
tions have  taken  permanent  and  visible  form.  In  reading  a 
report  of  our  Church  properties  in  Southern  Asia  we  but  con- 
tinue our  statement  of  the  progress  of  religion.  The  valuation 
of  property  in  1903  was  5,771,000  rupees;  in  1907  the  property 
value  has  risen  to  9,561,000  rupees,  an  increase  during  the 
quadrennium  of  3,790,000  rupees,  a gain  of  sixty-five  and  two 
thirds  per  cent.  We  regret  that  this  is  not  all  paid  for,  for  there 
is  a debt  against  these  properties  of  1,160,000  rupees.  Let  it  be 
noted,  however,  that  the  whole  indebtedness,  though  large,  is 
less  than  twelve  per  cent  of  the  amount  invested,  and  the  gain 
for  the  quadrennium  is  more  than  three  times  as  large  as  the 
entire  amount  of  the  indebtedness.  While  we  greatly  need  help 
to  clear  this  indebtedness,  the  figures  are  not  such  as  to  give  any 
special  anxiety. 

The  Board  of  Missions  has  not  been  able,  from  lack  of  re- 
sources, to  make  any  large  contributions  for  the  purchase  of 
property.  There  is,  therefore,  much  room  for  special  gifts  to 
help  in  the  property  difficulties  of  Southern  Asia. 

It  is  morning  in  all  these  Oriental  lands.  Already  the  sun- 
light touches  the  hilltops  and  lies  along  their  sloping  sides.  The 
teeming  valleys  below  are  yet  in  darkness,  but  the  mists  grow 
thin.  The  day  advances;  the  shadows  disappear.  It  will  soon 
be  high  noon,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  burst  upon  all  the 
darkened  millions  of  earth. 


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